He may have won a whole host of female fans thanks to his role as Christian Grey in the 50 Shades franchise but Jamie Dornan insists he didn’t always feel like such a sex symbol.

Opening up on tonight’s Graham Norton Show, the actor admits he was a late-developing teenager and used to glue a wig to his “private parts” in case he “got lucky”.

Jamie explains that at 15, he desperately tried to look older at a party he attended straight after appearing in a play.

Jamie told the hilarious tale on the Graham Norton Show (Image: PA)

“For my role, I had bits of a black wig glued to my face for a beard and I decided to keep it for the party so I would look older," the 35-year-old says.

"I also decided to cut up the rest of the wig and glue it to my private parts just in case I got lucky. I didn't get lucky and removing the bits of wig ripped out the very small amount of natural hair I had down there.

"It was a physically and emotionally painful experience!"

Jamie had his fellow guests in stitches with the tale (Image: PA)

Jamie also opened up about the new film Fifty Shades Freed, insisting the smouldering scene where he emerges from the sea was not sexy to film.

"What you can't see is that it was pebbly and I couldn't walk on it. The beach was only semi-closed and there were lots of people taking photos as I struggled up the beach," he says.

"It was so not cool. They even put down a piece of carpet for me to walk on but I still struggled. In the end, I had to wear a pair of jelly sandals and no-one looks sexy in those!"

Jamie appears alongside Helen Mirren and Liam Neeson (Image: PA)

Jamie - who shot to fame in BBC drama The Fall - says he was given a selection of modesty pouches to choose from during filming for the 50 Shades films.

"When I found one that fitted I took it off and noticed inside a label that said, 'Inmate number three'. Clearly it had been worn before. I just had to grin and bear it."

Jamie appears on tonight’s show alongside Helen Mirren and Liam Neeson . The pair both dated back in the 80s and speak fondly about their romance.

Liam insists he was instantly “smitten” with Helen after meeting on the set of the 1981 flick Excalibur.